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Chimpanzees escape!

A group of seven chimpanzees at the Kansas City Zoo got the briefest taste of freedom on Thursday afternoon, before being lured back into their enclosure with a more familiar taste: dinner and dessert.

Zoo officials believe a chimpanzee broke off a six-foot tree branch and used it to scale the enclosure wall. After the ringleader climbed, he beckoned six others to follow him. Three chimps jumped off the other side of the wall, out of their enclosure, into a zookeeper area not open to the public.

"Chimps are so smart and they live in this big social group. So hey - I found a way out, why doesn't everybody come join me," explained Kansas City Zoo director Randy Wisthoff.